National Geographic: Birth of Civilization

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Rated: NR (Not Rated)
Type: DVD
Directed By: Jacques Malaterre
Studio: Nat'l Geographic Vid
Release Date: 2008-06-24
Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 06/24/2008 Run time: 90 minutes Rating: Nr

Oversimplistic and naive
This so-called documentary presents an overly speculative view that shows humans progressing toward civilization, starting with an absurd scenario of a peaceful nomadic group encountering a selfish group of settled hunter-gatherers. This show belongs more to the category of pseudo-docu-drama than it does to anything educational. I do not recommend that anyone waste their money buying this.

Good Historical Perspective
Takes a fictional path through early human history; showing nomads as they learn about sedentary life, the first cases of religion, love and power struggles, the development of agriculture, trade, and language, and the first corrupt government.
This is a great lesson in early microeconomics, and political theory on a similar micro-level.
This is a great show for someone looking to understand government and religion in civilization, and see them both for what they really are.

Produced and directed by Jean Jaques Rousseau and Karl Marx

The problem with the script is that it could have been written by Rousseau or Karl Marx. The producers seem to believe that human beings were peaceful hunter gatherers who shared all their food until someone set aside land for agriculture and claimed the land as their own property. So, the wandering people had no choice but to kill the farmers and steal their food. The pruducers do admit that settled people could use their spare time to make things out of clay, stone, and metal but that only led to the creation of a class system. As for cities - they are only breeding ground for diseases.

There you have it - private property is the origin of war and inequality. Don't waste your money on this Marxist claptrap.

Watch the Special Features Program.
The "Quest for Fire" redux of the main documentary wasn't that appealing to me. However, in the special features section, they include a 50-minute work on skeletons that they refer to as "hobbits." They peel the onion showing that these skeletons were not humans facing dwarfism or pygmies. There was a relative of humans that lived for at least 80,000 years, but then disappeared approximately 18,000 years ago. They include silly footage of modern people saying the hobbits still live in a nearby mountain. Also, the skeleton looks like it's mouth was punched in, but the narrator later says, "We have no evidence of trauma to the skeleton." Still, I enjoyed it more than the main work, so I encourage others not to overlook it.